Arriva Buses Wales - Chester Depot

[iMarkeh]

RE: Arriva Buses Wales - Chester Depot

(24/08/2018 23:32)bus401 Wrote:  All these experts its a wonder bus companies aren't millionaires?

Given their track record, it is clear that Arriva Chester has little knowledge of how to run a bus company or they would know things like not trying to kill off bus routes, not having extortionate prices, and the biggest of all, if you want to keep any passengers, don't keep chopping and changing routes every 30 seconds. Just because Arriva as a whole makes a lot of money, it doesn't mean individual depots make much does it! Chester could make 1k profit but places like Green Lane could make 30k profit. You wouldn't know unless you either had good contacts inside the company or were the finance person for the Arriva Wales area.

Arriva in Chester have never been the brightest of sparks. Chester has lots of ways companies can make money. Just Arriva doesn't listen and they seem to constantly get it so badly wrong. If Arriva actually stopped and thought about it. They are missing out on so many ways to capitalise. Let me give you 1 example. Route 4 from Chester to Mold is timed in such a way that Townlynx have to follow behind about 10 minutes later picking up all the school kids for Mold Campus. If Arriva re-timed their services slightly, they could get funding from Flintshire councils to take the school kids. It would take the route off Townlynx as well which in the long run, if Arriva did this on quite a few routes (bearing in mind there is a bus from Broughton village to Saltney High and Chester Catholic high. 12 and 13 could take these trips on if they timed it all up properly), it could in the long run affect Townlynx and put a competitor out of business. Though that is a long term plan, it starts with simple timetabling. Can you explain why Arriva aren't changing their times to enable them to technically get free money (money for carrying school kids and the slight 4 minute extension to Mold Campus)?

(24/08/2018 23:36)Valandil Wrote:  I definitely agree that more time is preferable, and extending the 12/13 would on the face of it look like a better option (other things being equal) as from memory I think they have around 20 minutes between runs at Chester. 1hr20mins would be a good amount of time to get to Ellesmere Port and back with some layover too. I wonder why they didn't do that and chose the X4 instead.

This somewhat backs up my above point. The 12/13 serve areas like Broughton Villages, Sandycroft, Penyffordd as well as Stagecoach areas like Saltney and Handbridge (Which if they want to declare war, this could reduce Stagecoach day ticket for people using the 16 to connect onto the 1 & X8). The X4 serves Mold, Buckley and Ewloe (all places where people would use Stagecoach route 5. Given the 5 is tendered, it makes no odds to Stagecoach if the numbers drop). Other than that, you have Hawarden and Chester Business Park. Clearly there is a big market for travel between Hawarden and Cheshire Oaks/Eport which has only just been noticed.